US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that expands sanctions introduced earlier by the US administration against Belarus. The relevant document and the letter of the head of states to Congress leaders were released by the White House, Tass informs.
“I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13405 of June 16, 2006 (Blocking Property of Certain Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Belarus), finding that the Belarusian regime’s harmful activities and long-standing abuses aimed at suppressing democracy and the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Belarus — including illicit and oppressive activities stemming from the August 9, 2020, fraudulent Belarusian presidential election and its aftermath, such as the elimination of political opposition and civil society organizations and the regime’s disruption and endangering of international civil air travel — constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the Executive Order says.
Newly introduced restrictions cover in particular “the defense and related materiel sector, security sector, energy sector, potassium chloride (potash) sector, tobacco products sector, construction sector, or transportation sector of the economy of Belarus, or any other sector of the Belarus economy as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State,” according to the text of the Executive Order.
